


Priority: Earth

by black_rose4



Series: Hard To Kill [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, F/M, Final Battle, Gen, Goodbyes, So much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 18:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15176267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/black_rose4/pseuds/black_rose4
Summary: The allied forces are assaulting the Reapers above the Earth. Now it's up to Shepard to get up to the Citadel and activate the Crucible.Basically, this is the end leg of Mass Effect 3 aka a whole lot of angst and sadness. Enjoy!





	Priority: Earth

“We gotta move!”

His words echo in her ears as her legs carry her forward, working on auto-pilot whilst she tries to remain focused on the task at hand and on not freaking out. Because she can’t freak out. Not yet. Not until the mission is done. No matter how many people she sees go down. No matter how many screams she hears. 

They’re almost there. Just a little further and they’ll be at the Conduit. Just a little further and they can do this. Just a little more. Just a little more...

Another explosion, but Shepard keeps running. She has to keep running. She can’t think about the people in that vehicle, nor the people it hit as it came crashing to the ground. If she does, she’ll lose focus. If she does, her legs will stop running and the mission will be over. For everyone. 

Another vehicle is hit and it comes hurtling towards her. Her legs keep her going, sliding her out of the way while she prays that it both misses her and ends her misery. It tumbles, caught in its own momentum, and she watches with wide eyes and it finds its way towards her squad mates. To her best friend and her partner. 

It hits them. 

Before her legs can argue, she’s turning backing, praying to a God she doesn’t believe in that they’re alright. That she hasn’t just lost one of the few reasons she’s not given up yet. 

She’s not sure who to head for first, but Liara chooses for her, already getting to her feet and waving frantically in Garrus’ direction. Memories of him grinning from a balcony on Omega hit her. And then the rocket. But as she glances over him she realises this is so much worse than Omega ever was. 

Rei apologises as she grab his arm and pulls. She’s too short and too tired to carry him, something she’s sure he’d rib her for under any other circumstances. But right now he’s too injured to comment. Another set of hands grabs him and together Shepard and Liara pull Garrus to cover behind an upturned vehicle. 

“Normandy, do you copy? I need an evac. Now!”

The line is fuzzy, but Rei’s just glad there even is a line. “ _ We’re - heavy losses - Commander. _ ” 

Garrus’ head sags. Rei grabs his shoulder and shakes him. “Hey, come on. Stay with me, big guy. Don’t go to sleep yet. You’re not allowed to sleep on the job.” His head lolls to the other side, his eyes fluttering as he fights to keep them open. “Just a little longer, come on. Please.” 

“Rei.”

The Normandy rounds the corner and Shepard lets out a sigh of relief, both for herself and her crew. When it lands, they get Garrus somewhat to his feet and guide him towards the awaiting ship. 

Rei removes Garrus’ arm from over her shoulder and shares a look with Liara. “You better get outta here.” 

Liara nods her understanding, but Garrus croaks out a, “No.” 

Rei stiffens her back and her upper lip. This would’ve been easier if he were unconscious. “Don’t argue Garrus. I’ve gotta do this. You know I do.”

He tries to shrug Liara off, but he’s too weak and she’s too determined. He grunts in frustration. “Rei, please.” 

She casts a glance back at the Conduit. At the bodies laying in the street. At the Reaper staring her down.  _ They can wait another moment _ . He seems to relax when he sees her turn back towards him. Like she’s going to get on the ship and they can fly away from here and - then what? The Reapers are everywhere. There is no running away. And she could never do that, anyway. That’s not who she is and they both know that. 

Rei places a hand on his cheek. He leans into it and sighs softly, his eyes closing. “I love you. So much.” 

He seems to finally accept it then. That she has to do this. That he can’t come with her. That he may never see her again. He nods against her palm. They’ve always known this could happen, they just never wanted to believe it ever would. “I...love you too.” 

She lingers for one last, heart-wrenching moment before backing away, stepping off the loading ramp and shouting for them to get going already. Rei mouths that she’ll be okay, smiles through the tears. Garrus doesn’t believe it. He reaches out for her, but she’s already out of his reach.

As the Normandy takes off, her legs kick back into autopilot. This is it. One last chance to reach the Conduit. One last chance to save the galaxy.  

* * *

“ _ Shepard _ .”

This isn’t like the first time she died. That was quicker, simpler. Her lungs had screamed for oxygen and soon the lack of it had reached her brain and began switching off all the lights. When she actually died, she didn’t really feel it, her body already unconscious. This is harder. She can feel the life draining from her, slowly but surely. And there’s nothing to fight for, no air to try and find, no special something to rejuvenate her. She just needs life. And that is slowly pouring out of her, pooling in what’s left of her armour and on the floor.

“ _ Shepard _ .” 

The voice calls to her again. She lets out a sigh of relief. “Anderson.” 

Rei forces herself to stand, despite her legs’ protests. Every cell in her body protests, but she protests harder. “You’re up here too?” She looks around. Bodies upon bodies fill the room, piled on top of one another in a bloody heap. Like meat on a butcher’s block. She can’t bring herself to look at them for long, the sight far too familiar. 

“ _ Followed you up, but we didn’t come out the same place, least I don’t think we did. What’s your surrounding look like? _ ” He sounds as exhausted as she feels, and she can tell by his voice that he’s probably just as injured as she is. And as determined. 

“ _ You okay? _ ” A bubble of laughter bursts past her lips. Even now, when they’re staring death in the face, he’s still checking up on her. 

Rei shakes her head, not that he can see it. “Not really, but I’m still kicking, aren’t I?” She wills her feet forward, but they feel like lead. She tries to turn autopilot back on, but the system’s gone offline. It’s all down to her now. “Shit, there’s so many bodies in here.”

“ _ That sounds familiar. I’m in a dark hallway. Reminds me of your description of the Collector base. _ ”

She sighs. “That’d make sense.”

“ _ You think they’re making a Reaper in here? _ ”

“Yeah, I do. First, they round people up on Earth, then send them up here to be processed.” 

“ _ God damn abomination. Look, I’m gonna keep moving. The sooner we blow these bastards back to Hell, the better. _ ” 

She totters forward, hand firmly gripping her gun. “A-fucking-men.” 

* * *

This feels like one of her usual nightmares. The voices whispering in her ear, all clammering for her attention, creating a cacophony of noise inside her head. Her body is out of her control, limbs frozen and yet moving on their own accord. Her legs turn her so she’s facing Anderson and he’s frozen like she is, locked in place as he fights for control over his body. She tries to pinch herself awake, but her arms are frozen by her sides.

“I underestimated you, Shepard.”

The voices grow louder, deafening. His voice cuts through them all. “I warned you. Control is the means to survival. Control of the Reapers, and of you, if necessary.” The Illusive Man looks at her and her legs make her kneel. She gets a good look at him now, as he takes a moment to enjoy this image of her. His face is warped, twisted by Reaper technology. She almost feels sorry for him. Almost. 

“They’re controlling you.” 

“I don’t think so, Admiral.” 

Shepard tries to get back to her feet. Her body fights her. “You really think controlling me is the same as controlling a Reaper?” 

That almost makes him pause. Almost. “Have a little faith, Shepard. When humanity discovered the Mass Relays, when we learned there was more to the galaxy than we imagined, there were some who thought the relays should be destroyed. They were scared of what we’d find, terrified of what we might let in. But look at what humanity has achieved. Since that discovery we’ve advanced more than the past ten thousand years combined. And the Reapers will do the same for us again, a thousand fold. But,” the voices scream inside her head. “Only if we can harness their ability to control.” 

Her arm raises. She points her gun at Anderson. He raises a hand to defend himself. As if that will save him. “Bullshit. We destroy them, or they destroy us.”

“And waste this opportunity? Never.” 

Rei fights to lower her gun, but her arm is locked in place. Her finger sits dangerously on the trigger. “You’re meddling with things you don’t understand. You shouldn’t even be able to use this power.” 

The Illusive Man actually pauses this time. He turns away from them both, but his voice betrays him. “I...don’t believe that. If we can control it, why shouldn’t it be ours?”

“Because we’re not ready for it.”

“No. This is the way humanity must evolve.” 

Anderson shakes his head defiantly. “There’s always another way.” 

“I’ve dedicated my life to understanding the Reapers, and I know with certainty the Crucible will allow me to control them.”

“Great. And then what?” 

The Illusive Man opens his arms wide, triumphant. He grins, but it comes out a sneer. “Look at the power they wield. Look at what they can do.” The voices scream. A flash of purple. 

Her finger tenses. Anderson cries out. 

A sob rips from her throat and Shepard shakes her head, squeezes her eyes shut. She can’t look at him. She can’t. Not at what he made her do. At how he took one of the few good people left in her life. At how he took yet another thing from her, just like everything and everyone else she’s ever loved. 

She glares at the Illusive Man. “All I see is what they did to you. Look at yourself. Look at what they did to you.”

“I took what I wanted from them and made it my own. This isn’t about me or you. It’s about things so much bigger than all of us.”

“He’s wrong. Don’t listen to him, Reiley.” 

The Illusive Man walks up to Anderson, looks him up and down. Rei wants to shoot him, but her hand won’t let her. “And who will you listen to, Shepard? An old soldier, stuck in his ways, only able to see the world down the barrel of a gun? What if he’s wrong? What if controlling the Reapers is the answer?”

“And what if it’s not? If we destroy the Reapers, this all ends today. But if you can’t control them-”

“But I can!” He seems to be trying to convince himself now more than them. That everything isn’t falling apart before his eyes. Once again, Shepard can’t help but almost feel sorry for the Illusive Man. Almost. 

“Are you really willing to bet humanity’s existence on it?”

“I-” The Illusive Man clutches at his head. The voices are in his head too and she can almost see them they’re screaming so loud. “I know it will work.”

Under better circumstances she’d allow herself to sound cocky. “You can’t do it, can you? They won’t let you.” 

“No! I’m in control. No one’s tell me what to do.” He’s back screaming at them now, at the voices that are making him act against his will. He pounds at his head, tries to claw them out. She knows exactly how he feels, only he has the motor control she does not. Her pity wins out and Shepard looks at him sadly. 

Anderson does not. “Listen to yourself. You’re indoctrinated.” 

“No. No.” He’s still shaking his head, clawing at the voices. “Do you think power like this comes easy? There are sacrifices involved. Sacrifices needed to protect humanity. And with the Crucible I can-” 

“You’ve sacrificed too much. Humanity’s already undone because of you. They have the Citadel, they’ve got us fighting each other instead of fighting them. You’ve done exactly what the Reapers wanted you to do and you’re still doing it because they control you.” She wants to hold out a hand, offer him a sign of peace. Instead, all she can do is point her gun. “It’s not too late. Let us go and we’ll do the rest.”

He takes a long moment to wrestle with the idea. Of letting them walk away and destroying the Reapers. Of ridding his mind of the voices inside. But in the end, the voices win out. “I…I can’t do that, Commander.” 

“Of course you can’t. They own you.” 

The Illusive Man moves behind Anderson, and Rei sucks in a breath and holds it as she watches him take Anderson’s gun from his belt. He turns it over in his hand wistfully. “You’ll undo everything I’ve accomplished. I can’t let that happen.”

“Just let us go and we’ll fix this.” 

“I can’t do that, Shepard. I-” He winces, grits his teeth as a maelstrom whirls inside his mind. “They’re too strong.”

He wrestles for control and to her surprise, for a brief moment, he wins. The Illusive man raises the gun to his head. “I tried, Shepard. 

Almost.

* * *

 

She’ll never tire of this view. Earth, in all her glory. She’s a little dented now, and more than a little bruised, but her radiance still shines through. Even with the fight still going on outside, she truly is breathtaking. Or maybe that’s just Rei’s cracked ribs. 

Reiley slumps down beside Anderson, the last of her energy drained. It’s done. The arms of the Citadel are open and the Crucible is docked and ready to go. She’s done. 

She still doesn’t quite believe it. All this time she’s been ploughing forward, heading towards a goal she wasn’t sure she’d ever see herself. And she’s always accepted that. She didn’t need to see the end result because at least there would be one, one she’d helped create. She’d never thought she’d actually get to watch it play out. 

“We actually did it.”

Anderson smiles weakly, nods. “Yes, we did.”

Outside, the fight is still raging. Another ship explodes, one of their own. At this point, they’re both too tired to even register it as another loss. Debris blasts across their field of vision, streaking past the Earth. “It’s quite a view.”

Rei chuckles, the sound cracked and broken. “Best seats in the house.” 

Anderson sighs. “God, it’s been years since I just...sat down.” He looks so tired. Emotionally and physically. Had she the energy, Rei would shake him and tell him not to fall asleep just yet. Because she knows what happens when people fall asleep like this. 

She pushes that thought aside. He’s going to be fine. 

“I think you earned a good sit down, sir.” 

Silence. 

Rei’s eyes go wide. “Sir? Anderson?” A ragged breath, and then he hums quizzically. Rei sighs in relief. “Stay with me, sir. We’re almost through this. Just a little longer. We’ve got this.” 

Anderson groans as he shifts, somehow finding the energy to place his hand over hers and squeeze it tight. “You did good, child. I’m so proud of you.” 

She turns her hand over and squeezes his back. “Thank you, sir.” 

Silence. 

“Sir? Anderson?”

Silence. 

She squeezes his hand. He does not squeeze back. 

* * *

“The paths are open, but you have to choose.”

One person choosing the fate of the entire galaxy. That’s a lot of pressure. Holding every single life in her two, bloody hands, both organic and synthetic. With the snap of her fingers she could make any one of them go away. Or all of them, if she decided to simply do nothing. To let the Reapers continue on their destructive path.

No. That was never an option and it still isn’t. 

Going into this, she’d thought her decision was made. Destroy the Reapers and end this war once and for all. But it wouldn’t be over, not really. The Cycle would continue, just like it has done for so long now. Another race would be left behind, just like humanity was. Left to grow and find the Mass Relays. Left to flourish. Left to be harvested and turned into a new Reaper. And the Cycle would continue. 

She needs to break the Cycle. She needs-

_ If there’s to be a new solution, you must act.  _

She needs to act. 

Her legs carry her forward, working on auto-pilot whilst she remains focused. There is nothing else now between her and her goal. It’s just her and the Crucible and the fate of the entire galaxy. She’s almost there. The mission is finally almost done. Almost. 

She jumps. 

  
  



End file.
